Tag Archives: The Big Draw

Muggle Moments

sketch of rocking horse

"Muggle Rocking Horse" by Kerry McFall

I am only beginning to realize the depth of J.K. Rowling’s genius.  Almost every day I have at least one flashback to Harry Potter, like when I turn a corner and realize that I am surely in Diagon Alley, or what must have been the inspiration for it.  Or like last week when Griff and I rode the “Night Bus”, an articulated nightmare driven by a cockney cowboy of questionable sanity…  Rowling captured muggle London in perfect detail.

But the icing on the cake was last Friday when my sketch class visited the Pollock Toy Museum, aka Olivander’s Magic Wand Shop.  It is a narrow, sagging brick building snugged into a bustling business area.  The displays in the hazy windows are faded puppet theatres.  There is barely enough room for two people in the entry, so you begin climbing stairs almost immediately as you enter.  I hate stairs – they make my knees scream.  But there is no choice, so you creak up and around in a dizzying circle, with the walls pressing in on you on either side, and you know there is something more weird and wonderful in every box and frame and glass case so you just keep going, wondering if the staircases are moving or if it’s just you…

It’s definitely magic, but it’s dusty magic, just this side of creepy as doll eyes follow you, and toy soldiers keep you in their rifle sights.  I expected Rex Harrison/Olivander to pop out at me any second, waving just the right magic wand.  The closer you look, the more uneasy you become as you realize just how uneven the floors are, just how much the ceiling sags…

I sketched a life-sized rocking horse, using a technique that I really liked: dark pencil and white pastel chalk on a mid-range gray background.  The rocking horse was made in about 1840, according to the sign, and was literally the size of a real pony.  It was way up on a high shelf, I suppose to keep Muggle children from trying to ride it.  I needed about another hour to finish, but class was over, my knees were killing me, and I had the impression that I needed to leave before the building itself vanished back into the recesses of imagination…